My Good King

so tired, so it's going to be super short tonight. So tired 'cause I'm in the middle of a rather large photography assignment, so I drive there every morning after dropping the kids off. I come home about an hour before the time to pick them up, eat lunch, veg on the sofa, pick them up, edit photos, scrape something together for dinner, etc. Question that keeps running through my head: How am I going to be able to keep up the house when I go back to work full time??!! I try to ignore it, but it's there. BUT ... I very wisely scheduled myself off tomorrow (LOVE this working for myself, lol!), so I'll head here after dropping the kids off and spend a few hours editing photos while sipping a coffee--or two :) And ... I got to have lunch with my husband today because I happened to be taking pictures at the clinic he oversees. We also ate with the guy who offered me the assignment, which was cool 'cause I don't really know him that well, but I'd like to. T...

Well, it went much better than I could have anticipated. The instructer could almost be a stand-up comic. He's a very reasonable guy, makes the class as interesting and easy as possible. All of us in there are teachers, and I am enjoying hearing a little bit about the world of middle school and the world of high school. By the end of the class, I'll be able to design my own webpage, have an entire lesson in PowerPoint (I'm doing an introductory lesson on tropical rainforests), edit digital film, and I'm not sure what else. Quite a lot for 4 days of instruction. It was nice to hang out with a bunch of the teachers at lunchtime, too. But I must say that I behaved like a "bad" student when he surprised us with homework due the next day (we'd already spent all day in class; then we had to go home and do our homework), and before I could restrain myself, I heard myself say, "due tomorrow?? tomorrow?" Unfortunately, his hearing is better than mi...

That's what Ashley told me when she checked my blog and discovered that I had failed to tell you about an important milestone in her life ('cause I guess that not even my blog gets to be ALL ABOUT ME!!--lol!). So, like the dutiful mother I am, I am here to tell you that ... … my “baby” started high school this year —feeling the same way the rest of us (and her class) felt—overwhelmed, extremely intimidated, rather confused, and terrified of being at the bottom of the high school food chain (apparently freshman are fondly referred to as “fresh meat”). Do you remember your first days of high school? In spite of my best attempts to erase those memories from my mind, I can still vividly recall feeling the same way for the entire first month. The words “lost” and “frightened” would aptly describe my emotional state those first several weeks. However, my baby has bounced back much more quickly than her mother did and has adjusted well to this monumental step in her life. I have ...

On my mind right now: nervous about going to class tomorrow and Sunday (I'm so old now that I will look like one of those "old hags" I used to see in my classes and wonder what on earth they're still doing in school when they're old already (hmm... what comes around goes around, huh?! I would have been much better off repenting for those judgmental thoughts, lol!) What do people bring to class nowadays? Do they bring their laptops and take notes on that? Do they still use notebooks? (I'm bringing both so I have both options covered.) Are we going to have homework? Is it going to be a B-O-R-I-N-G lecture-type format, or is it going to be hands-on? (It's a class about integrating technology in the classroom.) Will people be dressed casual or will they be dressed up? (I'm going casual 'cause that's the kind of gal I am.) Mostly, why am I obsessing so much about this? Normally I could care less. I'm not there to meet people--just to pass the cl...

I just wanted to document this interesting relationship. Ashley met her cousin about two years ago, but they just clicked immediately. They saw each other a few times over the course of a couple of months, and then her cousin (and their family) returned to the Philippines. She would always ask about this cousin when Carlito went back. They have just moved here, and Ashley has only seen her this one day, but she just really loves her. I don't know if her cousin feels as deeply as Ashley does, but judging by the way they hung out together that day (they were inseparable again), I would suspect the feeling is mutual. They text each other, too. They both share a love of reading and have read the Twilight Saga. I was lucky enough to catch this shot of them poring over something in Barnes and Noble.

I've been going to Vacationland these past couple of weeks, reliving our vacation this summer so I can forget about the stress of starting school, job hunting, paperwork for job hunting, photoshoot, etc. So I thought I'd take you with me and share just a few pics of our first couple of days in Texas (that was our first stop). We went there to spend some time with Carlito's family. It was great (except for the extreme heat and humidity, lol!). This is a photo of some of the family we visited. We were at a pool. I took the picture before everyone started wilting from the heat :) This is Ashley and her two favorite cousins. They're always together. This is a great example of the huge spread of food they have when they get together. It just cracks me up every time. I LOVE it!! And check it out ... they took us to a mall with an ICE SKATING RINK inside it!! Is that too cool or what??!! Perfect in the summer :) (excuse the glare; there were a ton of people, and t...

Sitting here so tired ... I haven't even started back to work yet, but getting everything together to look for a job is like having a job--lots of running around. Tomorrow I go to my alma mater (caps?) to get my transcripts from one of the THREE schools I need them from. That will take all morning; plus I have to get my books for the class I'll be attending two weekends. It will feel SOOOO weird to be back in school. I just realized today that I'll need a notebook or a binder. What a dork, huh?, showing up for class with only my books??!! Seriously, I am soooo done with the whole school thing. ... unless, of course, it would be a photography class or graphic arts class--but they don't count toward renewing my credential. Bummer. One more "tidbit" I should share with you. Seriously, I am in SOOOO over my head (shhhh!) , but I'm also excited. I have been given the opportunity to take a whole slew of photos for my brother-in-law's dental offices, photos w...

Okay. Sorry about the THREE MONTH hiatus from blogging. Don't know what came over me. I really don't know. This post is soooo hard. Like I've been away so long, and there's waaaay too much to catch up on, so where do I begin? Well, enough rambling. We had our first "real" (a.k.a. "airplane") vacation in six years. And we made the most of it: visited Carlito's relatives in Houston, TX (sorry, Samantha, Abilene was too far) drove to New Orleans (O my gosh, I LOVED it!!) flew to New York City (love to visit, but could ncver live there) took the train to Washington, D.C. to visit my brother and sister-in-law and my ADORABLE two-year-old niece!! day tripped it to Philadelphia, PA flew home ... all in 12 days! Whew! No wonder I needed a week of naps when we got back--I'm with you on naps, Teena! We had a total blast. I'm still scrapping DAY ONE, though. Hmmm. Maybe I'll be done by next summer :) ... and I'm currently in the ...